The Best Kind of Stuck
by nanniships
Summary: This little piece of fluff is down to silly begger on tumblr. That'll teach you to put ideas into my head! John and Anna, AU, not so strangers stuck in a lift. Same old same old.


Anna Smith looked up guiltily from her phone as she collided with a broad back ahead of her for the lift. Broad Back turned his head briefly and muttered something that sounded like "sorry" as he shoved his own phone into his suit coat pocket.

"My fault," she replied with a smile.

John Bates gave her a casual once over as he tried to place her. He'd worked in this building over ten years and thought he knew everyone. He swept his eyes discretely over her, ignoring the frantic calls to "Hold the bloody lift!" They both looked up in surprise as the doors shut in the face of a much disgruntled courier, weighed down with several large boxes.

"I guess I should have held the lift," he murmured as the doors shook from a series of vicious kicks and the lift's mechanisms engaged.

"I hope he's not coming to my office," she said, adjusting her purse on her shoulder and pulling her blouse down a bit from where it had rucked up from their attempt to occupy the same space for a moment.

John grinned at her comment and was about to respond when the lights began to flash and the lift made a rather horrible grinding sound. As it shuddered to a halt and the emergency lights went on, a look of panic flashed across her face.

"Bloody hell," Anna muttered as she pounded on the buttons.

John watched her as he took out his phone again and checked for signal. Anna looked at him hopefully. Her face fell at his shrug.

"Nothing?" she asked, her voice going up anxiously.

"I didn't expect anything, but you never know," he replied. "Excuse me, would you?"

Anna shifted abruptly out from in front of the panel. John yanked until the door covering the emergency line fell open. He wasn't surprised to see that the phone headset was lying in the bottom of the case, leaving the twisting, metal cord dangling uselessly.

"Looks like we're stuck for good and proper," he commented with an apologetic grimace.

"Oh God! Is there no way to contact anyone?"

John watched in alarm as her breathing began to speed up. "Are you a bit claustrophobic?"

"A bit. But I'm more concerned about my job…" Anna dropped her purse to the floor of the lift and clutched at the rail attached to the wall.

"They'll surely understand," John said in a soothing voice.

"They don't even know me," she snapped, rubbing her arm with one hand agitatedly. "I'm supposed to start today."

"It'll be fine. I''ll vouch for you." He nearly stepped closer to her to put a reassuring hand on her arm. "Take a few deep breaths."

Her response was a skeptical glare and a further increase in the rate of her breathing. Bending over, she dug into her purse for her phone.

"It's not likely to show a signal—"

"I know that!" she replied dismissively, sweeping her finger over the screen.

There was something very familiar about her. As he watched the light of her phone illuminate the happy smile conjured up by the series of texts she was reading, the feeling that he'd seen her before grew stronger. He nearly asked her if they'd met, then dismissed the possibility.

He'd most certainly have remembered her if they'd met.

With a sigh, he took out his own phone and began looking at the last communication he'd had with the woman he'd been getting acquainted with over the internet for the last six months.

 _~I've decided to take the job, John! I should be starting this week. Since I'll be in your area, maybe we can actually meet up!_

He felt a smile creep across his own face at the possibility. She was everything he'd ever looked for, and they'd been so frustrated at the long distance courtship…

After about twenty minutes of comfortable silence, a sigh from the young woman in the elevator caught his attention, and he glanced up to see her looking away from her phone in his direction.

"I'm sorry to be so rude," she began.

"That's alright."

"No…I shouldn't have snapped at you." She heaved a sigh. "My day was going so well, and I had such plans, then this happened. I'm afraid I took it out on you." Her eyes grew thoughtful as she looked a little harder at him. The dim lights made her squint…but she could have sworn he looked familiar.

"Well, the days not over yet," he replied. "Maybe it won't interfere with your plans all that much."

"Probably not, actually. They're not exactly hard and fast plans…" She smiled off into the distance and he took a moment to admire her profile in the dim atmosphere. "I was hoping to meet my, well…I suppose he's my boyfriend."

"You suppose?" he said with a chuckle.

"Well…we've been sort of internet dating," she said shyly. "I was hoping to actually meet him today, but I don't think he's gotten my text yet, and I don't know why I'm telling you any of this. I don't even know your name."

"That's a coincidence….I've been dating someone on the internet too." He extended his hand towards her. "My name's John, by the way."

"You? I can't believe you'd need to resort to cyber dating," she replied as her small hand disappeared into his much larger one.

"I could say the same about you."

"Funny though," she said with a laugh, "the man I'm hoping to meet today is also called John…"

The mechanism of the lift roared and the lights came up, blindingly bright after so long in the half light. The shuddering start to the ascent made them both jump. John clutched her hand tighter as she swayed and pulled her closer. As their eyes met for the first time in the full light, John's eye's widened in shock.

"Anna?"

"Oh my God!" She brought her hand up to cover her mouth. "John?"

John gazed at the woman he'd been exchanging e-mails and texts with for months.

"The selfies didn't do you justice," he managed to choke out after staring at her for a solid minute.

"You either."

The lift finally shuddered to a stop and the doors opened, revealing two grimy maintenance workers. Neither Anna nor John spared them a glance.

"Oi!' one of them finally barked. "You gettin' off, or not?"

"Um…what floor is this?" Anna asked, tearing her eyes away from John's.

"Does it matter?" John asked, grinning.

"I suppose not."

John laid his hand lightly in the small of her back and guided her off of the elevator. The maintenance men watched them as they stopped next to a potted palm and took each other's hands again.

"Why is it I never get stuck inna lift wif someone like that? one of them said sourly to the other.

"Which one?" the other replied smartly.

"I simply can't believe this," Anna said, looking up at John with shining eyes. "I get stuck in a lift with the one person in the world I want to be stuck with, and I don't even realize it until it's time to get off."

Before John could respond, both of their phones chimed, indicating incoming texts. They both looked at their phones instinctively.

 _~That's marvelous! I can't wait to meet you!"_

 _~I got here earlier than I thought! Can we meet somewhere today?_

"Any reply to your online girl, Mr. Bates?"

He stuffed his phone into his suit coat and plucked her phone from her fingers dropping it into her purse.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint her," he said with a twinkle in his eye, taking her hands in his again. "It would appear I might have other plans. How about your internet bloke?"

"What internet bloke? I don't have an internet bloke anymore."

"Hmmm…then I've got a chance?"

"Maybe…if you can tell me where we are and how to get to where I should be, so I don't lose my brand new job…."

John looked around at the corridor lined with offices, then looked back at Anna.

"Not a bloody clue. But I know where we should be."

"Where's that?" she replied, taking a step closer to him.

"Stuck back in that lift again," he answered, cocking an eyebrow at her.

Anna laughed and took another step closer. John reached out and pulled her into his arms.

"The lift is currently occupied by those two chaps who are staring at us," she said, wrapping her arms around his back.

"Well," he said into the top of her head, "there's always the stairwell…"


End file.
